# 1996 Torneo Descentralizado

The 1996 Torneo Descentralizado was the 81st season of the top category of Peruvian football. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. Sporting Cristal won its 13th first division title, completing a string of 3 consecutive titles starting in 1994. The feat is known as a tricampeonato and was only accomplished before by Alianza Lima.

## Changes from 1995

* The tournament would be played like in 1994, where the champion was crowned after the first stage of the tournament and the second berth to the Copa Libertadores was determined by an end-of-season Liguilla featuring 4 teams.
* Four teams were relegated instead of the customary two. Two teams from the Copa Perú and the Segunda División in their place.

## Teams
### Team changes

| Promoted from 1995 Segunda División | Promoted from 1995 Copa Perú | Relegated from 1995 Primera División |
| Guardia Republicana (1st) | La Loretana (1st) | Unión Huaral (15th) León de Huánuco (16th) |

### Stadia locations

| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| Alianza Atlético | Sullana | Campeones del 36 | 8,000 |
| Alianza Lima | Lima | Alejandro Villanueva | 35,000 |
| Atlético Torino | Talara | Campeonísimo | 8,000 |
| Aurich–Cañaña | Chiclayo | Elías Aguirre | 24,500 |
| Ciclista Lima | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 |
| Cienciano | Cusco | Garcilaso | 42,056 |
| Deportivo Municipal | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 |
| Deportivo Pesquero | Chimbote | Manuel Gómez Arellano | 25,000 |
| Guardia Republicana | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 |
| La Loretana | Pucallpa | Aliardo Soria | 15,000 |
| Melgar | Arequipa | Mariano Melgar | 20,000 |
| San Agustín | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 |
| Sport Boys | Callao | Miguel Grau | 18,000 |
| Sporting Cristal | Lima | San Martín de Porres | 15,000 |
| Unión Minas | Cerro de Pasco | Daniel Alcides Carrión | 8,000 |
| Universitario | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 |

## First stage

The first stage of the season was played as a double round-robin tournament. Sporting Cristal as champions qualified for the 1997 Copa Libertadores. Alianza Lima directly advanced to the end-of-season Liguilla and received a bonus point for placing second. The teams that placed 3 to 8 advanced to a preliminary round.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Sporting Cristal (C) | 30 | 22 | 3 | 5 | 73 | 26 | +47 | 69 | 1997 Copa Libertadores |
| 2 | Alianza Lima | 30 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 68 | 23 | +45 | 60 | Liguilla Pre-Libertadores with 1 bonus point |
| 3 | Universitario | 30 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 39 | 20 | +19 | 58 | Pre-Liguilla |
| 4 | Sport Boys | 30 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 49 | 26 | +23 | 53 | Pre-Liguilla |
| 5 | Atlético Torino | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 49 | Pre-Liguilla |
| 6 | Cienciano | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 32 | 36 | −4 | 41 | Pre-Liguilla |
| 7 | Deportivo Pesquero | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 27 | 33 | −6 | 37 | Pre-Liguilla |
| 8 | Unión Minas | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 35 | 42 | −7 | 37 | Pre-Liguilla |
| 9 | Deportivo Municipal | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 44 | 57 | −13 | 37 | |
| 10 | La Loretana | 30 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 39 | 59 | −20 | 37 | |
| 11 | Melgar | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 36 | |
| 12 | Alianza Atlético | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 40 | 51 | −11 | 36 | |
| 13 | Aurich–Cañaña | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 30 | 37 | −7 | 33 | 1997 Copa Perú |
| 14 | Ciclista Lima | 30 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 36 | 51 | −15 | 29 | 1997 Segunda División |
| 15 | Guardia Republicana | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 30 | 45 | −15 | 29 | 1997 Segunda División |
| 16 | San Agustín | 30 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 27 | 62 | −35 | 16 | 1997 Segunda División |

### Results

| Home \ Away | AAS | ALI | TOR | AUR | CIC | CIE | MUN | PES | GUA | LOR | MEL | AGU | SBA | CRI | MIN | UNI |
| Alianza Atlético | | 2–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–2 |
| Alianza Lima | 6–0 | | 1–0 | 5–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 6–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Atlético Torino | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Aurich–Cañaña | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Ciclista Lima | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–5 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Cienciano | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Deportivo Municipal | 2–2 | 1–5 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Deportivo Pesquero | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 |
| Guardia Republicana | 1–0 | 0–5 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 |
| La Loretana | 2–0 | 1–6 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Melgar | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| San Agustín | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 4–3 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Sport Boys | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | | 3–1 | 5–0 | 0–0 |
| Sporting Cristal | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 6–2 | 6–0 | 5–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 7–1 | 1–2 |
| Unión Minas | 5–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 1–1 |
| Universitario | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | |

## Pre-Liguilla

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Unión Minas | 0–3 | Universitario | 0–0 | 0–3 |
| Deportivo Pesquero | 3–1 | Sport Boys | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Cienciano | 5–2 | Atletico Torino | 5–1 | 0–1 |
Universitario, Deportivo Pesquero, and Cienciano qualified for the Liguilla.

## Liguilla Pre-Libertadores

All matches were played in Lima.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | ALI | UNI | PES | CIE |
| 1 | Alianza Lima | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 8 | 1997 Copa Libertadores | | | 4–1 | 4–1 |
| 2 | Universitario | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 7 | 1997 Copa CONMEBOL | 0–0 | | | 5–0 |
| 3 | Deportivo Pesquero | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 1 | | | 2–3 | | |
| 4 | Cienciano | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 1 | | | | 2–2 | |
* ↑ Alianza Lima obtained 1 point for finishing second in the Torneo Descentralizado.